What Really Happened To Elisa Lam?
This article is more than nine years old and was last updated in March 2018.
Photo: © Jim Winstead
Before Barry even got into this week's 'featured haunting', Ray aired his concerns saying he's "genuinely worried about this, you told me that this is really heavy going, it's relatively recent. Regardless of any believe in the paranormal or anything like that, it has a tragic end to it."
But Barry is confident, "this is my sort of secret weapon" and he plans to use the story of Elisa Lam to scare Ray and convince him in the paranormal.
Barry tells us the whole sad tale, starting with the basics of Elisa. She was a 21-year-old student, her family descended from Hong King and moved to Canada. In 2013 she went on a tour of Southern California, a trip she called her "West Coast Tour."
She was travelling alone and, according to Barry, was having a great time and posting photos of her experiences to Instagram. But when she checked into the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, she came to a sad and untimely end.
The hotel already had a bit of a bad reputation, according to Barry it was popular with serial killers, and as Ray pointed out is the hotel where actress Elizabeth Short was murdered. Ray points out that the fact that the hotel is right next to Skid Row could be the reason why is has such a violent history.
Ray also points out that every hotel will have had its share of suicides, deaths and violence.
Barry continued with his account of the story, he informs us that after checking in, Elisa was reported missing at the start of February and her body was found on the 19th sealed in a water tank on the roof of the building. Ray wants more details, "sealed how? Was it welded shut?"
Barry says, "it would have had to been shut from the outside, it would have took a couple of people to do it."
Barry is convinced that Elisa "couldn't have got up there on her own. She couldn't have got up there on her own." But Ray isn't so sure, "she could, she could she could have gone up the fire escape steps at the side of the hotel."
Barry defends his belief, "she'd have to have a pretty good knowledge of the hotel to do that."
Ray, who's Googled the hotel and found a photo of it, proudly declares "I've not been to it and I'm telling you now that you can actually see on this picture the steps at the side of it. So, walking into the hotel at the front, you can see the steps at the side of it."
Summing up his point, "so I know now, having never visited it that I could get on to the roof using the steps at the side," Ray tells Barry.
Barry says the official finding was that it was an accidental death by drowning, but Barry says "no one knows how."
Which brings him on to what he thinks is "truly bizarre" about this case." Barry explains, "she'd been missing for a week or so, a big hunt is on for her now. The police then released a video which was there last bit of video they have of Elisa."
Barry plays Ray the video which is taken from the security camera in the hotel's elevator. You can watch the clip below and decide for yourself what's happening...
Barry says there's a couple of theories as to what's happening in the video. His first theory, "she's playing a game known as 'elevator to another world'," which Barry describes as a ritual. Barry says it's odd that the doors of the elevator don't close.
But, Ray points out that as soon as she gets in to the elevator at the start of the video, the doors do start to close but she clearly presses the hold button and from that point on the lift stays open.
The other theory, Barry explains, is that she was "possessed." Barry says, "her behaviour is quite erratic in the video, she looks scared, she's obviously hiding from something." He says that there's a point in the video where she changes. He claims her legs twist and move in an "unnatural" way as if her body is starting to contort.
Ray jumps in, "I've just watched that video, she wasn't contorting." But Barry has a clever defence up his sleeve, he uses the fictional movie 'The Exorcist' as proof that when people are possessed their bodies are warped.
Ray quickly pulls the conversation away from the world of fiction and demands more facts, "was she suffering from depression?" According to Barry she was bipolar was was taking four kinds of drugs for her condition.
This leads Ray to his conclusion of what he's seen, "it's consistent with a psychotic episode. What was very telling in that video was when she was reaching for the door that she knew was open. I think she's having a psychotic episode."
But Barry has a different opinion of that telling part of the CCTV footage, "I think that's when it takes control of her."
So, Ray asked Barry for his full account of what he thinks happened to poor Elisa. Barry explains that he think "the hotel," or whatever's in the hotel takes her upstairs. Barry say, "it tells her the code for the door," before correcting himself, "oh no, it doesn't tell her, cuz it knows it cuz it's in her."
Barry claims she puts the code in, goes to the roof to put herself in the tank. Only able to open the heavy lid with the help of the hotel's ghost.
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Conclusion
Rather than brutally ripping Barry apart as Ray has done in previous episodes, Ray decided to prove his point by asking Barry a series of yes or no questions.
Is it possible she went up the side of the hotel on the fire escape?
Is it possible she pressed the button to hold the lift doors open?
Is it possible that she was having a psychotic episode given that she had a history of depression?
Is it possible that she climbed on to the building next to the water tanks and dropped on to the water tanks from there?
Is it possible that the tank had been left open?
Is it possible that she got into that tank not knowing what she was doing?
Is it possible that a member of staff saw that the tank was open and went over and closed it?
As Barry answered 'yes' to all of these questions, he pretty much confirmed himself that there is another option for Elisa's strange behaviour and her tragic death, beside paranormal. Which means, it's another victory for Ray.
Ray 3 - Barry 0
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